Dissident Muslim clerics
in Saudi Arabia have threatened to excommunicate the king and other members
of the royal family if they support the military strikes against Afghanistan.

The fatwas challenging the Saudi
regime came as a bomb explosion in a busy shopping area raised security
fears among foreign workers. Two people, including an American, died in
the blast in the city of Khobar on Saturday. A Briton, an American and
two Filipinos were injured.

A fatwa by Sheikh Hamoud bin Oqla
al-Shuaibi, a leading cleric in Burayda, warns: "Whoever supports the infidel
against Muslims is considered an infidel... it is a duty to wage jihad
on anyone who attacks Afghanistan." The sheikh is considered one of the
most learned scholars in the kingdom. He was jailed for two months in 1995,
but it is unlikely the Saudi regime would risk trying to silence him now.

Suleiman Alwan and Ali Khodeir, two
younger clerics associated with Mr Al-Shuaibi, have issued similar declarations.
The fatwas declare that the punishment for supporting US aggression "by
hand, by tongue, or by money" is expulsion from Islam.

The suggestion that some Saudi citizens
might regard their rulers as lapsed Muslims - and therefore legitimate
targets for attack - threatens to undermine the kingdom's stability.

"The royal family is in a state of
anxiety and fear," said Saad al-Fagih, of the Movement for Islamic Reform,
yesterday.

"They are aware of a few thousand
people who have trained in Afghanistan in the last few years. There is
information that these people have orders to hit them once the American
strikes start."